THE WOODLANDS - A Woodlands High School student is well on his way to Broadway.

TWHS junior Vic Shuttee, 16, wrote “God-Awful,” which won the High School Division of the Texas Educational Theatre Association PlayFest, the annual playwriting contest for playwrights across the state. The contest culminates in the winning plays being produced at the TETA Convention each January.

“I was ecstatic,” Shuttee said. “It’s my dream since starting theater to win the playwriting award because I want to be a writer.”

Shuttee has been writing since he was young but started serious playwriting as a high school freshman. He began writing “God-Awful” in last April. It became a 10-minute monologue for a playwriting class; and over the summer, Shuttee expanded it until it was completed in October and submitted to TETA.

“It’s kind of about selling out the big things in life,” he said.

The play is based on the New Testament as the situation comedy “Leave Room for Jesus” is being produced. Set in 1987, the play attacks the commercialism of the important things in life like religion and politics, with the Bible not yet being commercialized, Shuttee said.

As a member of the Improv Troupe, Shuttee wrote humor into the piece as well as musical numbers.

“I like making people laugh,” Shuttee said. “Acting is fun; but writing, you have more freedom.”

In addition to performing the play at the TETA Convention in Dallas, TWHS students will perform it Jan. 22 at TWHS with teacher Tim Jackubek directing. They will travel with the show to Dallas and perform for audiences of theater teachers who will be invited to ask questions of the cast and playwright, according to the press release. In addition to the play being produced, Shuttee also won a cash prize.

Shuttee plans to continue his theater experience in college, where he will study playwriting and “try the waters” in a career in playwriting, he said.

Shuttee also will perform in “Little Shop of Horrors” at 7 p.m. Jan. 28-30 and at 2 p.m. Jan. 30 at the TWHS auditorium. He will participate in the All-State performance of “Our Town,” which will travel statewide before the Nov. 17 performance for Texas Thespians State Theater Festival.

“God-Awful,” which is an hour long and features eight TWHS students, will be performed at 7 p.m. Jan. 22 at TWHS, located at 6101 Research Forest Drive in The Woodlands. For more information, call (936) 273-8530.